CCPR/C/128/D/2819/2016 therefore went to the Oran court of first instance and asked to be heard by a member of the prosecutor’s office. No one took the trouble to meet with her, and a judge who was there strongly advised her against pursuing the matter. On 17 July 2010, she sent another letter to the prosecutor attached to the court. On 14 September 2010, she wrote to the Prosecutor General at Oran Court of Justice to contest the version of events given in her son’s death certificate. She demanded that it be mentioned in the certificate that he had gone missing after being arrested by two police officers on 13 November 1995. 2.7 On 4 April 2011, the author was summoned by the prosecutor attached to the Oran court of first instance. During the hearing, the prosecutor strongly advised her to sign the death certificate so that the process established pursuant to Presidential Decree No. 06-94 of 28 February 2006, whereby State assistance was provided to impoverished families adversely affected by the involvement of a close relative in terrorism, could be set in motion. She refused and reiterated her request that the version of events given in her son’s death certificate be amended. On 30 November 2011, the author confirmed to the prosecutor in writing that she wished to contest the official version of the events surrounding her son’s death. 2.8 On 30 November 2014, the author was summoned again by the prosecutor attached to the Oran court of first instance. During the hearing, he informed her that the version of events given in the certificate, namely that her son had died in the maquis, was the result of a clerical error by the judicial administration. The author therefore requested that the certificate be amended and an investigation be opened. Her requests went unheeded. 2.9 The author raised her concerns not only with the judicial authorities but also with various non-judicial bodies. She wrote to the Minister of Justice, 2 the representative of the Office of the Ombudsman,3 the president of the National Human Rights Observatory,4 the Minister of Employment and Social Cohesion, 5 the Ligue algérienne pour la défense des droits de l’homme,6 the Secretary-General of the Workers’ Party, 7 the commander of the second military region, whose headquarters are in Oran,8 the Minister of Defence9 and the association SOS Disparus. 10 Nothing came of these letters. On 21 May 2007, the author submitted her son’s case to the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances. 2.10 Finally, in April 2015, the author was summoned to the Cité Djamel gendarmerie station in Oran. She thought that she was being summoned to a hearing with gendarmes who were going to investigate the case, whereas, in fact, the sole aim of the meeting was to intimidate her and thus discourage her from pursuing the matter further. The gendarmes explicitly asked her to stop making enquiries and to accept the State assistance intended for impoverished families. The author stood by her version of the events surrounding her son’s disappearance and requested that his remains be returned to her, if he had died in prison. 2.11 Despite all the author’s efforts, no investigation has been opened. The author points out that it is now legally impossible for her to bring the case before the judicial authorities, following the promulgation of Ordinance No. 06-01 of 27 February 2006 on the implementation of the Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation. As a result, the existing domestic remedies, which were in any case fruitless and ineffective, are no longer available. The Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation provides that “reprehensible acts on the part of agents of the State, which have been punished by law whenever they have been proved, cannot be used as a pretext to discredit the security forces as a whole, who were doing their duty for their country with the support of the general public”. 2.12 According to the author, since Ordinance No. 06-01 prohibits the opening of legal proceedings on pain of criminal prosecution, victims are relieved of any obligation to exhaust 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 GE.20-12768 Letters dated 14 June 1997, 4 August 1997, 15 September 1997 and 29 April 2008. Letter dated 2 July 1997. Letter dated 4 August 1997. Letter dated 10 June 1998. Letter dated 8 August 1998. Letter dated 11 August 1998. Letters dated 18 November 1998 and 16 April 2000. Letter dated 14 November 2000. Letters dated 9 October 2002 and 16 January 2003. 3